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I love healthy food, but I love it more when it doesn’t taste like healthy food. Best of both worlds! Click around to find some of my tried and true staples - and new recipes too, whether my own ideas, inspired by other blogs, torn from the pages of a magazine, or passed through friends or family. Learn more about me and My Utensil Crock HERE.

Marinara Quinoa with Chicken

10.02.2013

When I first learned that quinoa can be cooked directly into a chili or stew {like with this recipe}, I was hooked. Sure, it is not difficult to make a pot of quinoa on its own, but one less step, and one less pot? Yes, please.

This Marinara Quinoa with Chicken is such a satisfying dish after a long day; it is also an easy weeknight recipe that you can vary to your tastes. But my tastes are pretty pure in the marinara realm, i.e. any method to eat marinara sauce works for me, so I have kept this recipe pretty straightforward.

I try to keep these ingredients on hand so I can assemble this dish quickly for a craving. If I don’t have fresh chicken, I move a package of chicken from the freezer to the fridge the night before or on my way out to work. If you don’t keep these ingredients in your pantry and haven’t planned your grocery list (or forgot it – isn’t that the worst?) and find yourself in a grocery store scanning your memory for easy dishes to throw together, this one works well. You would probably just need to pick up some quinoa, chicken, and a few cans of tomato products.

When the oil is heated, add the onion and cook until it softens and starts to brown.

Add the garlic and stir. Cook just until it starts to brown - about 30 seconds to 1 minute.

Add the tomato paste, and stir. Cook for one minute.

Add the two cans of tomato. When you add the whole tomatoes, gently crush them with your hand before they go in the pot {be careful, they squirt!} and continue to break them up with a wooden spoon as you are cooking. Bring to a boil.

Add the dried herbs and stir.

Add a can of water, and stir. Make sure to dissolve the tomato paste.

Add the quinoa, and bring back to a boil. Lower heat to medium-low, and cook uncovered until the quinoa is done {the little tails come out - see the close-up photo}

I soak the quinoa in a bowl or bucket, and then pour out the water through the strainer, letting the strainer catch any quinoa that might fall out. I then pour that quinoa back into the big bowl, and repeat the process 2-3 more times. Some instructions advise to just let water run through a strainer until it is clear, but I find that hard to do, and a waste of water, so this is the process I use. Let me know if you have other questions!